Supreme Court
Former Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa, currently lodged in Bangalore jail following her conviction in a disproportionate assets case, today moved the Supreme Court seeking bail on several grounds including her ill health.
Jayalalithaa, along with her aide Sasikala Natrajan, VK Sudhakaran and J Ilavarasi, were Tuesday refused bail by the Karnataka high court which held that there were no grounds for granting bail.
Jayalalithaa alone moved the apex court for the grant of bail. The other three would be filing their appeals in a day or two.
Besides her health grounds, Jayalalithaa has invoked section 389 of the Code of Criminal Procedure seeking the suspension of her sentence and grant of bail till the pendency of her appeal against the trial court order convicting her in the case and sentencing her to a four-year jail term and a fine of Rs.100 crore.
The high court Oct 7, while declining bail to Jayalalithaa and three others, had relied on apex court orders as it ruled that putting the sentence on hold after an appeal is filed against the trial court order was not automatic. It had said that plea for bail after the conviction was different from the plea for bail while the trial was on.
It had also cited the apex court ruling that “corruption amounts to violation of human rights and leads to economic imbalances”.
The Supreme Court has participated in Narendra Modi’s open challenge to clean India, by literally sweeping its own back yard.
A Chief Justice of India for 153 days is unlikely to leave a legacy behind. Somehow, this one did, explains Court Witness.
The Chhattisgarh advocate who was admitted to hospital after having poisoned herself with naphthalene balls before appearing in the chief’s court, would be discharged from hospital within two or three days, according to a report submitted to the Supreme Court by amicus curiae Vandana Sehgal.
The Delhi Legal Services Authority was directed by the Supreme Court to provide the ill advocate, dubbed Ms M, with the necessary assistance while in Delhi, listing the matter for hearing on 10 October [second order PDF].
M had alleged before the Chief Justice of India (CJI) on Monday that police had ignored her complaints of having been gang raped by her husband’s family and others, and was then found to have consumed the poison [Background in first order PDF].
The Supreme Court has selected former Australian high court judge Michael Kirby to chair over the arbitration between Reliance Industries and the Centre over KG Basin gas production, after five months ago Justice SS Nijjar, had already selected one and then another Australian ex-judge to preside after the first turned out to have been preferred by Reliance.
Justice JS Khehar has now confirmed Kirby, who will arbitrate alongside ex-Chief Justice of India’s (CJI) SP Bharucha and VN Khare - respectively Reliance and ministry nominees - reported the Times of India.